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Choosing a floor plan is obviously a crucial decision. My advice for this topic: really think about your lifestyle and how you want to live in your new home. One of my biggest pet peeves in any home is wasted space (formal living room with plastic seat covers, anyone?). It also helps to consider how long you plan to be in this home and what your lifestyle will be like over those years. Case in point: we’re considering this the “teen years” home. We have at least 10 more years of kids in the house, and we really want our kids and their friends to feel comfortable hanging out in our home during the high school years. We wanted lots of open space, but a defined kid hang-out area and an area the adults could use for relaxing, entertaining, and watching tv at the same time.

We ended up using an existing Pepper Viner floor plan, which saved us thousands of dollars that we would have had to pay an architect to design a home from scratch. Pepper Viner had built this home as a model a few years ago, so we were lucky enough to have been able to walk through it in real life, which was a huge benefit in getting a feel for the layout. Unfortunately that’s not always possible, but you can always spend some time touring model homes to get a feel for the size of rooms and layouts you like so that when you’re viewing floor plans, you have an idea of what you’re looking at.

The floor plan we chose has a large open living/dining space, which we will use as the kid area and for extra dining space when we entertain – but our approach to this space will be casual, not formal. Formal spaces just aren’t necessary for the way we live and entertain in our family. The kitchen is open to the family room, and I love being able to cook and work in the kitchen and still be with my family. There are doors from all of these living spaces onto the back patio, which is perfect for Arizona since we spend a lot of time outside.

We did want to make a few changes to the plan, so we went to the architect who designed the original plan to make those modifications. We added a walk-in pantry – it’s more spacious than the cabinetry that had been designated as pantry space in the original plan. Again, this is an example of thinking about how you like to function in a home. In my case, I like deep, open shelves where I can see everything all at once. I not only store a lot of food (I like to stock up at Costco) but I also store big appliances like my crock pot and blender and large serving dishes in my pantry. We like to entertain and I like to make it easy on myself. To eek out the space for the pantry, we had to lose some cabinet space, but it was worth it to me. Another change we made was eliminating a small door and window along the back of the open living/dining area, and instead installing a large 18-foot sliding door. This required some engineering on that load-bearing wall, so again, we need the expertise of the architect to map that out. In making that change, we realized one of the patio columns would be right smack in the middle of the view from the door, so we had him reconfigure the column placement as well.

Overall, choose a floorplan that suits the way your family lives instead of trying to force yourselves to function in a space that doesn’t make sense. Consider whether you entertain, host houseguests, how much storage you need, and how much maintenance you're willing to deal with. Once you have that basic layout in place, that’s when you can have some fun choosing finishes and touches to really make it your own. More on that soon!

With building a house comes SO MANY decisions. One of the big debates I had was deciding on the finish for the plumbing fixtures (faucets, shower heads, etc.). Part of the struggle was that I wanted to carry that finish throughout the house — towel bars, door handles, hardware, etc. — so it wasn’t going in just one place. During my debate, I posted this photo (--->) on Facebook and Instagram, and I had to laugh, because I don’t think I’ve ever gotten such a response on anything I’ve ever posted before. People are PASSIONATE about their plumbing fixtures.

Here are some inspiration images I found as I trolled Pinterest and Houzz for hours on end while I debated:

We’ll have white cabinets, and I wanted something classic that I won’t hate in a few years. The trick, I suppose, is that it’s hard to know now what you’ll hate then. The majority of responses to my informal survey were in favor of brushed nickel or oil rubbed bronze. I like them both. I had thought about the beautiful champagne bronze finish — sort of the matte gold that is so popular right now — but vetoed that because it’s pretty pricey, especially when using it on everything, and I wasn't completely sure I would continue to love it for years to come.

The winner? Brushed nickel. Several of my friends who have oil-rubbed bronze warned me that the finish wears off, so that decided it for me. Added bonus? Brushed nickel doesn’t show water spots and fingerprints as much as shinier finishes, and with two kids, every little bit helps. And since it’s been around for a while, there are tons of options for brushed nickel — different styles, price points, etc. In a future post, I'll write up a list of links to tons of places where you can comparison shop for fixtures.

We ended up choosing Kohler faucets and are buying them through Ferguson Kitchen & Bath, the vendor used by Tucson Plumbing, who is doing all of the plumbing in our house. Chad has been working with Tucson Plumbing and Ferguson for years through his job with Pepper Viner Homes. We’re so glad we were able to source our choices through a local vendor, and we love that Kohler has a lifetime guarantee on all of their items. Once everything is installed I'll post some pictures!

So to sum it up, here are the factors to consider when choosing your finishes:

Style (Does the finish go with your color scheme and cabinetry? Do you like the styles that are available in that finish?)

Cost (Some specialized finishes are really pricey — take that into consideration when you're deciding where you want to spend your money!)

Durability/Quality (Does it make sense for your lifestyle? Is it easy to clean? Will the finish hold up if it's somewhere where it will get a lot of use? Is there a guarantee on your selections?)

Availability (Are there plenty of style options available in your price range?)

I told you I’d fill you in on the lot we ended up with – here goes! After months of searching, then having not one, but two lots under contract and then fall through for various reasons, we ended up putting in an offer on a lot we had previously disregarded. It was in a great location, but on a busy road, and it looked like it might be a tough build with some hills and lots of rocks – not to mention that we couldn’t see it that well from the road and there wasn’t a real access to it to check it out in more detail. As our frustration grew with the lack of options in our price range, we decided to take a closer look. Chad called me over to his computer one day to look at the Google aerial view of the land, and he showed me where he thought there was a ridge set far back from the road that was flat enough to build on. We went out there and walked the lot (well, hiked the lot), one thing led to another, and we decided to place an offer.

Doing our homework

We asked for a 90-day closing – I wasn’t happy about that because we had waited for so long and was growing impatient – but Chad insisted we needed plenty of time to do our due diligence and make sure we could build the way we wanted to and that there wouldn’t be any huge surprise costs associated with that piece of land. He was right. It took just about the whole 90 days to do the research. He had his land development guy go out there and consult with him, and they agreed they would need to “move some dirt” (read: bulldoze literally tons of dirt) to flatten the build area, but that it could be done. The soil had to be tested to make sure a septic tank would work. The architectural review committee of the homeowners’ association had to approve our plans. The municipality zoning had to approve our site and house plan within their requirements. Fun fact, for example: our roof was NINE inches too tall - so we had to redesign the roof trusses to get under the 18-foot zoning requirement. They also inspected the lot to see how many trees we would need to move to build – and the city requires us to plant new trees to replace them.

Saving as much time as possible

Because it would take us a few months to close on the lot, we did as much as we could prior to closing so that we would be able to hit the ground running and start construction as soon as possible. While we were still in escrow, we finalized the house plans. We’re using one of Pepper Viner’s existing plans, but a few adjustments we wanted required architectural review and sign-off, so we went ahead and took care of that. We also submitted our site plan to the town so that we would have a permit to begin clearing the lot as soon as we closed – there is a fee associated with that, so we were taking a gamble that everything would go fine and we would, indeed, ultimately close on this lot. If the deal had fallen through, we would have been out that money. Chad also got the various subcontractors tentatively scheduled. Despite all of our well-intentioned planning, we did encounter a few delays out of the gate: it took more time than expected to clear the lot, so we lost a few days, but after waiting for years, I could handle a few days’ delay.

The benefit to the hilly, not flat lot? We loved the beautiful views! Unfortunately we are located on the west side of the road, but we wanted our backyard to face east. Enter some creative site planning. We consulted with a draftsman and he worked on a grading plan that would include a long driveway up the hill, and an unusual but smart turn of the house – so our front yard won’t face the road like a typical house, but because of the way we’re turning it, our backyard will face east and we’ll be able to enjoy mountain views and afternoon shade – a big benefit in hot, hot Tucson.

While the lot was in our budget, we’re pushing it a bit with the cost of land development. Now for the fun part – trying to recoup some of those costs in other parts of the house. Next up we’ll talk about some of the ways we’re saving money on construction of this house.

I mentioned our long process of finding a lot in my last post. This is a crucial decision and one that should be carefully considered because so many factors are involved. Over time, after looking at lots, we consolidated our “wish list” to help narrow our search, rather than considering every crazy piece of land that popped up on the MLS. Having said that, we agreed that getting every item on the list would be unlikely, so we had to be prepared for making concessions.

Here are the things we had to consider:

Price – what could we afford to pay for land considering the cost building of the floor plan we wanted? If you’re looking to build and are flexible about your floor plan and the size of your house, you may be willing to spend more on the land and sacrifice some square footage for it. Since we had our hearts set on a certain floor plan, we didn’t have a lot of wiggle room with our land budget.

Location – we have learned how hard it is for our lifestyle when we have a long distance to drive for everything. We knew we wanted to be within a short distance of the kids’ school, and in the direction of Chad’s work. Not only that, but we wanted to be within the district boundaries of the high school that we want Luke and Maggie to attend, as that will be an issue a few years from now and we don’t want to move again any time soon! Also consider: traffic, proximity of shopping, hospital, doctors, etc.

Size – many, many houses in Tucson are built very close together. Again, this is a lifestyle thing, but for us, especially coming from back east, we knew we wanted some elbow room – preferably around an acre or more with room for a pool and backyard entertaining. On the other end of the spectrum, maybe you’re looking for a low-maintenance lot and a small yard would be perfect for you so that you’re not tied down to a lot of yard work and upkeep.

Neighborhood – having said we want a large lot, I also like being in an actual neighborhood. These two factors are often at odds with each other, as many large lots stand alone and aren’t in a neighborhood. I just love for my kids to make friends and to be able to ride their bikes or walk to hang out with other kids. Plus, I feel safer with some neighbors nearby. However, the downside of a “subdivision” is having to deal with CC&Rs. These guidelines and rules are put in place to keep the neighborhood nice and maintain property value - but they also mean you don’t have free reign to do whatever you want with the design of your home. And if you have Sanford and Son tendencies like my Georgia farm-raised husband, you’ll have to hide your junk from the street view. And they’ll yell at you if you’re lazy and leave your trash cans out. Guilty.

Schools – in addition to the neighborhood factor, you need to consider where you want your children to go to school, and whether the lot is within the boundaries for that district. Open enrollment, where you can enroll your children in a school outside of their district, is an option in Tucson. However, that is a conditional thing and can be unavailable if your school is too full – I didn’t want to count on being able to open enroll and then panic if the high school didn’t have availability when it comes time for ninth grade. And whether or not you have kids, you will want to consider the quality of the school district for resale value for your home.

Orientation – I never paid as much attention to this until we got to Tucson, but here, view is everything. I really wanted an eastern-facing backyard with a view of the Catalina Mountains from the back of the house. In addition to nice views, the morning sun is a lot more tolerable, and the afternoon shade is a huge perk during our 6-month long summer. In our current house, we get a lot more afternoon and evening sun than I realized, and it is brutal during much of the year, making afternoon entertaining pretty uncomfortable at times. Also, mountain views are a boost to property value in Tucson. All of that considered, we had to think about how our house would face on any lot we considered.

Cost of development – the cost of land isn’t necessarily what it seems. This is an area where Chad’s experience helped save us, because I sure wouldn’t have known better with a few of the lots we looked at that seemed like a good deal. Some lots are seemingly affordable, but in order to place a house on them, they may require tens of thousands of dollars of land work - moving dirt, raising the pad, etc. Also, there can be environmental restrictions; for example, there was a 1-acre lot we liked, but you could only actually disturb such a small percentage of the lot due to restrictions that we couldn’t have fit the house and yard we wanted. Not only that, but there can be requirements that you re-plant certain plants if they’re moved during construction (saguaro cactus, anyone?), and that should be factored into the budget. In addition, you have to see if water, electric, gas, and sewer are available, or you’ll need to be prepared to account for the cost of bringing those utilities in, which isn’t cheap.

Overwhelmed yet? Even just writing this, I’ve been going back and adding more as things occur to me. And this is just the LOT – we haven’t even gotten to the house yet. Clearly there are times early in this process where we’ve already been questioning what we’re getting ourselves into. But the benefit is us working together as a family with a lot of patience and a lot of effort to create something we’ve been dreaming of for years. And how are you supposed to know all of this about the lot? A reputable builder will help you through the process, and a good realtor will know how to find you the right lot. I’m happy to know some of the best - contact me for recommendations!

Did we get everything on our wish list? Nope. What did we end up with? Stay tuned. I’ll tell you about the lot we chose in our next post!